Wednesday, July 05, 2006

people and government

There is Latin reversible maxim that says: what the people are so is the government, what the government is, so are the people. In plain language, this means that the people deserve the government they have.

It is the people who constitute their government, who witness the service rendered or disservice perpetrated by their governors, and who wherefore rightfully seat and unseat those governing them. This is the way of democracy. This is the mandate of human dignity of every person.

A government abuses and oppresses, hurts and kills people only when the people themselves allow it to do so. Otherwise, that government is a marked target for dismissal. A people are thus robbed of their dignity and pride, their wealth and inheritance by the government only when they tolerate it to do so. This is when the truth that people have the government they deserve becomes operative.

Is the present government promoting the common good of society, providing honest administration, administering justice, all for the welfare of the people? If the answer is in the affirmative, then the people should support and affirm it. If the answer is in the negative and yet the people see, say and do nothing about their government, then they deserve to keep it. For them to complain is but duplicity.

This is no way meant to incite the people against their government. It is simply intended to explain the saying that they have the kind of government they deserve. The government is theirs and for them. The call is ultimately theirs. To have a good or bad government is their option after all. Otherwise, the conclusion is obvious: theirs is a basically non-democratic government. And theirs too is to keep this if that is their will and desire.

But then, just for the record, the Filipinos can undo even a dictatorial government as well as a government with no moral ascendancy to rule and lead. Philippine history is a witness to these socio-ethical events. Had they really wanted either or both kinds of government, the present one would not come to fore. And if they truly do want the present government, this is all theirs to have and to keep.

Oscar Cruz

About The Blogger

Most Reverend Oscar V. Cruz, D.D. is the Archbishop-Emeritus of Lingayen-Dagupan. He is currently the Judicial Vicar of the National Tribunal of Appeals. He is a prolific writer, having published several dozen books mostly on judicial and moral matters. His most recent book is about the Social Doctrines of the Church. He also has a blog where he posts regularly. He is an avid coin collector and dabbles in woodworking art.